There is known a fluid type splicing apparatus in which two yarn ends are inserted in the lapped state into a cylindrical splicing hole and a compressed fluid is jetted onto the lapped portion of the yarn ends to entangle the two yarn ends with each other to form one integrated yarn.
We previously proposed a splicing method in which in performing the splicing operation in the above-mentioned splicing apparatus, in order to promote entanglement of the lapped portion of two yarn ends and obtain a beautiful knot having a certain length, the yarns of the lapped portion are untwisted to produce a condition suitable for splicing. More specifically, according to this method, each yarn end is clamped at a point apart by a certain length from the top of the yarn end, both the yarn ends are sucked in suction nozzles arranged on both the sides of the splicing hole, the yarn ends are untwisted by air streams turning in the nozzles in a direction untwisting the yarn ends to disentangle and separate fibers of the top portions of the yarn ends, and the yarns in the suction nozzles are taken out by a yarn gathering lever capable of turning along a certain length and are inserted into the splicing hole.
In this method, parts of fibers disentangled in the suction nozzle are separated from the fiber bundle and are sucked into the nozzles, and therefore, the length of the disentangled yarn end left in the nozzle differs according to the fiber length of the yarn. More specifically, in case of a yarn having a long fiber length, the length of the yarn end left in the nozzle is increased, and in case of a yarn having a short fiber length, most of fibers are separated and the length of the yarn end left in the nozzle is decreased. Accordingly, when the yarn ends are taken out from the nozzle in the same quantities though the length of the untwisted and disentangled portion is different in the yarn ends, the length of the lapped portion differs among the respective yarn ends. If the length of the lapped portion is too long, the action of the swirling stream in the splicing hole is not exerted on the top portion of the yarn end, resulting in formation of horny projections on both the ends of the resulting joint. These horny projections are caught and broken by a knitting needle at the knitting step and the quality of the resulting knitted fabric is degraded. If the length of the lapped portion is too short, entanglement is caused only in the top portion of the yarn end where the strength of the joint in decreased.